A "shout out" of congratulations to Princeton, New jersey for seeking to co-exist successfully with Coyotes............. As part of its education campaign, the town wants to stress that residents should not leave out pet food that coyotes could eat................... Member of the town's Animal Control Advisory Committee did some research online finding out, among other things, that culling an area of coyotes only invites other coyotes to come in from other places as well as remaining Coyotes having even larger litters of pups to compensate for the killing of resident Coyotes..................Camilla Fox and Project Coyote should reinforce with Princeton that they should stick with this sound plan and not abandon it next year as some in the Village are suggesting

PRINCETON: Coyotes off kill list for this year Princeton will not cull coyotes but instead seek to educate the public on how best to live with the wild animals that live scattered townwide, officials said Monday. packetonline.com

 Princeton will not cull coyotes but instead seek to educate the public on how best to live with the wild animals that live scattered townwide, officials said Monday.

   Member of the town's Animal Control Advisory Committee did some research online finding out, among other things, that culling an area of coyotes only invites other coyotes to come in from other places, said Council President Bernard P. Miller, who sits on that committee. Furthermore, coyote living in urban-suburban settings tend to feed on small "critters" and food that is left outside, he said.

   Councilwoman Jo S. Butler, who also researched the issue, said she had found that culling is "not that effective" because it only leads coyotes to have larger litters.

   Mr. Miller and Ms. Butler said the coyote has no known natural predator. He said lethal methods of culling work best in "rural settings."

   Princeton Animal Control Officer Mark Johnson estimated that the town has around 40 to 60 coyotes. Last month, Mr. Johnson said there have been "numerous" coyote sightings; there was a report of one running across Community Park School on Saturday night.

   The coyote has been blamed for killing pets and chasing people, Mr. Johnson has said. Ms. Butler said that based on her research, people should not run from a coyote since that only triggers its chase instinct.

   Mr. Miller said coyotes range far in search of something to eat. As part of its education campaign, the town wants to stress that residents should not leave out pet food that coyotes could eat. Ms. Butler said she would like to see the town bring in state representatives come to talk about coyotes as they did about bear this past summer.

   In addition, the town plans to have Mr. Johnson destroy any coyote dens if he comes across any.

   The town has not completely shut the door to ever culling coyote. The town plans to collect data for any human-coyote contact, Mr. Miller said, and revisit the issue next year.

   In the meantime, the Princeton Council is expected to approve continuing culling the local deer herd. Princeton again will use a mix of sharpshooters and bow hunters starting in the wintertime likely at the end of this year or the beginning of 2014.

   The town also will have White Buffalo, the company providing the sharpshooters, do a census of the deer population, Mr. Miller said.